Tag: Black authors

A Muslim woman who wears the hijab and is a romance author? Why can’t all those descriptions belong to the same woman, says Layla Poulos, whose debut novel, My Way to You, is climbing its way up some of Amazon’s Best Sellers charts. Layla, who has been writing for years and loves the romance genre, advocates for more openness and discussions about romance and sexuality from a faith-based perspective. When it comes to her fiction writing, however, she places no restrictions on how much heat she brings to her stories. I recently spoke with Layla, who writes under the pseudonym Lyndell Williams, about her career, writing romance stories as a hijabi Muslim woman, and if she will ever write romance with Muslim characters.

A covered Muslim woman is probably the last person readers would expect to write a romance. What made you want to write in the genre?

I’ve been an avid romance reader all of my adult life. When presented with the opportunity to study the genre during my graduate studies, I took it. I now explore romance as a reader and romance scholar.

I love reading authors’ favorite lines from their books. Many authors take a lot of time and energy to draft particularly poignant prose (that alliteration is not an example), to grab readers’ attention and offer some inspiration, humor, humanity—a bunch of stuff.

I’m a little daunted to find some of my favorite lines from my book—singular…as in only one written so far—because I’ve spent so much time with my words. It’s difficult to step back and look at something I took so long to make cohesive and fluid as layers of individual components.

Some of the best romance novels are the ones with the rawest passion. Not always. Some authors take primal lust and make it gross.

But when well-done, an author can tap into readers’ baser sensual instincts, reminding them that just wanting someone isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

That is what Keta Kendric does in her novel Twisted Minds. From the moment main character Aaron sees Megan serving up grub to his father and the rest of the August Knights Motorcycle Club cretins, he’s immediately charged with a desire to have her.

I can’t believe it’s been over three years since I began uploading book reviews on YouTube. I loved getting in front of my cell phone and letting my teeny tiny audience of watchers know about the great Muslim fiction that authors were releasing to the world.

Unfortunately, life shifted, and I haven’t been able to do a review for a while, but I think I’ll start again. So, I’ve decided to share one of my favorites this week.

Have you ever loved someone so much and been so happy that you felt like Okoye at the beginning of Black Panther? You’re in Wakanda, chillin’ with W’Kabi, then he gotta go and screw it up by siding with friggin’ Killmonger! I mean, WTF, W’Kabi?!

Now you have to put your bliss on hold and significant other in his place because he insists on being a…man.

***SPOILERS ALERT*** Now, Let’s do this. That’s precisely what Chyna had to do to Jimin in Love Journey’s Doctor’s Desire. The couple meets at their medical school, and each of them is immediately struck. They have a whirlwind courtship full of passion. Things progress very quickly. Jimin is totally down with making Chyna his permanently and she completely plays off of his confidence and her own desires.

There is an awesome feeling that runs through an author when a fellow offers support and encouragement. I trodded to the mailbox the other day and immediately lit up when I saw the large yellow envelope containing a signed copy of Nasheed Jaxson’s Her Justice.

The crime romance is one of my favorites, and I was thrilled when Jaxson agreed to send me a signed copy for a book giveaway.